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| - I grew up in the neighbourhood around Peter's and still live close by. I have been to Peters' hundreds of times. Going to Peter's on a summer afternoon remains a fond childhood memory, a favorite late night hang out during high school, and was perfect comfort food for much of my adulthood. Sadly, however, although Peter's has been a Calgary institution for a few generations, for the last few years, it has been on a greasy slide into mediocrity...
The milkshakes remain stellar - my favorites are chocolate-banana and blueberry-raspberry. That is the best part of Peter's. In contrast, the burgers, and especially the fries, have slipped in quality since the original owner retired and sold the business a few years ago. The burgers are reasonably tasty when constructed at the time you order them; all too often they soggy and lukewarm from sitting too long. The biggest disappointment are the fries. In the past, you could trust them to be hot, crisp and delicious. Over the last few years, however, more often than not I have received soggy, limp, greasy, barely warm fries. I learned to solve the problem by assertively requesting fries fresh out of the fryer and I keep my eyes peeled to make sure they do not slip me the third rate soggy ones. Although this solves the limp fry problem, one should not have to make a special request to ensure quality.
I am sure I will continue to come for late night burgers and shakes. Peters remains a refreshing change from the chain burger take out joints - and I am too much of a creature of habit to break my Peters' addiction. Given that Peters' and I are likely in a relationship for life, I yearn for a return to the days when there was true pride in the product and customer satisfaction was number one.
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